After four months of discussions, country members of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) have now approved the Technical Specification (TS 17073) for Postal services – Interfaces for cross-border parcels.
The agreement follows work chaired by Ecommerce Europe, an association which represents more than 25,000 companies selling goods or services online to consumers in Europe within the CEN to harmonise postal and supply chain management standards. This will enable one item label for the delivery of merchandise to end customers.
“This is a major step forward to really innovate cross-border parcel delivery services in Europe,” said Walter Trezek, co-chair of the e-Logistics Working Group of Ecommerce Europe.
“One of the main causes of difficulties in parcel delivery was closed standards leading to proprietary networks, resulting in unfavorable market conditions for online merchants. The vote on the Technical Specification achieved an approval rate of 93.75% of all members in the CEN, representing 83.6% of Europe’s population. Ecommerce Europe is honored to have been in the driving seat to create solid open standards that will transform the old analog parcel into a digital and interconnected one,” he said.
This will be the first time that closed networks and open specifications can be supported on one parcel label.
Ecommerce Europe is currently revising its Manifesto for a better parcel delivery market in Europe, published in September 2016, to take into account both the recent vote on the Standardized Label and the developments on the Proposal for a Regulation on cross-border parcel delivery services.
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